Paul St. subdivision gets preliminary approval

YORK — The York Planning Board re-elected officers for one-year terms Thursday before delving into business as usual.

Comment

By Lauren Mifsud

seacoastonline.com

By Lauren Mifsud

Posted Jul. 17, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Lauren Mifsud

Posted Jul. 17, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

YORK — The York Planning Board re-elected officers for one-year terms Thursday before delving into business as usual.

The bulk of the meeting was spent on the application review for a proposed four-lot subdivision at 27 Paul St. The application agent and developer representative aimed to address the concerns of the board and the public regarding stormwater run off, septic systems, road improvements and the maximum build-out of the space prior to any construction on the site.

"The goal is to get preliminary approval, even if you have to condition a few things to the next meeting," said Jim Nadeau of James Nadeau & Associates. "We can address the issues that have been brought up."

The subdivision lots, as proposed, measure just over an acre apiece.

"This proposal is less than 6 acres, and more than half is not being used for development," Nadeau said, which is down from the original 12-acre proposal presented to the board in January.

Representatives of the board, along with the developer, residents of the homes abutting the proposed subdivision and engineers walked the site in May, going over property lines and addressing concerns of the neighbors.

Abutters of the property were also on hand at Thursday's meeting to voice their concerns.

Mike Cooper, of Paul Street, lives across the street from lot three of the proposed subdivision.

"Of all the things that could happen on 12 acres, of which 6 are being addressed, four single homes would fit nicely in (the) neighborhood," Copper said. "Our concern, from my perspective, is if it's going to blossom into something else, we'd be concerned with that, what can be built on those lots will have an impact on the neighborhood."

Speaking to those concerns the board, before granting unanimous preliminary approval, stipulated that the developer must write into the contracts for the land what can and cannot be built on the property — limiting it to single family homes, but not excluding home businesses.

Similarly, the board requested the developer delve deeper into septic versus sewer system possibilities, road improvements and safety conditions, and place a limit on the amount of fill added and grading that can be done on the land.

Lew Stowe, secretary of the Planning Board, said the main concern of the board is to protect the community.

"If there was a philosophy of the board it would be to protect the abutters," Stowe said. "It's spelled out at the very beginning of our zoning ordinances, and we have to protect other lots of the subdivision too."